Norway’s Knester AS has taken delivery of its third newbuild in more than 50 years – a 75.2-metre pelagic vessel from Karstensen Shipyard. Built to the yard’s own design and equipped for both trawl and purse seine operations, the newbuild combines modern efficiency and advanced technology to support the company’s next phase of growth.
Based in the pelagic heartland of Austevoll, fishing company Knester hasn’t made a habit of ordering new vessels. The company was set up in 1967 by Knut Stenevik and his wife Henny Ester – their names giving the company the Knester name – and they took delivery at that time of their first new vessel.
A new pelagic vessel of the same name was delivered in 2007. So, the new Knester just delivered by the Karstensen yard in Skagen the only the third newbuild in the company’s 50-plus year history. Today run by the third generations of the Stenevik and Eliassen families, Knester AS is also a relatively new customer for Karstensen.
A few years ago, the 2007-built Knester, which is still in the company’s ownership and now renamed Steinevik, came to the Skagen yard for a refit and a conversion to pumping over the stern. The success if this conversion and the subsequent relationship with the yard led to the order for a new Knester, built to the yard’s own design.
The new vessel measures 75.2 metres overall with a 15.6-metre beam and a 2,410-cubic-metre capacity in its 11 RSW tanks. It is designed to operate on the Norwegian fleet’s conventional pelagic fisheries – trawling for blue whiting west of Ireland, and purse seining for mackerel and herring. Knester is built at the shipyard’s subsidiary, Karstensen Shipyard Poland in Gdansk, and the partially outfitted hull was brought to the Skagen yard for outfitting.
The deck is laid out with the trawl setup to port and a recessed net bin for the purse seine to starboard. The trawl deck is lifted by 500mm and the two net drums in a fore-and-aft configuration, aligned to the hydraulic stern gate in the transon with three hydraulic control rods.
Fully hydraulic deck
The new vessel’s owners opted for fully hydraulic deck equipment, with trawl winches and fish pumps supplied by Karmøy Winch, and the purse seine handing system is a mix of Karmøy Winch and Storm Cranes equipment.
Twin 82-tonne trawl winches are controlled by a Karm trawl computer, and the warps lead to a pair of BlueLine blocks in the aft gantry and a pair of Vónin’s Twister trawl doors. The net drums are 110-tonne units, and there’s a full package of tail-end, breast rope and net sounder winches.
Karmøy Winch also supplied the 40-tonne purse winches and the 40-tonne Tristar Giant net hauler for retrieving the purse seine, as well as the 7t/12m net crane with a transport roller. The corkline and leadline stackers are from Storm Cranes. There’s also a foredeck crane, a 4t/13m fish pump crane and a 5t/10m fish pump/aft deck crane. The 20-inch fish pumps are from Karmøy Winch, supplied with hydraulic and fish pump hose reels, and the hydraulic package is completed by a suite of drives and power packs.
Catches are pumped aboard and pass through dewatering to be routed to the selected RSW tanks. These are chilled by a double PTG FrioNordica system with a 2x1300kW capacity. C-Flow supplied the vacuum system with two 4200-litre tanks and compressors.
Faith in Furuno
The big supplier is Furuno, with FSV-25 low-frequency, FSV-75 high-frequency and FSV-85 medium-frequency sonars, plus an Imagenex TS-332 trawl sonar, and the sounders are FCV-38 and FSS-3B units. The CI-68 current log is also from Furuno, while the trawl sensor array is from Marport.
On the navigation side, radars are from Furuno, as are the GPS compasses, while the gyro compass and autopilots are from Simrad. Knester has a double Tecdis T-2138A, two MaxSea Time Zero plotters and an Olex system.
Communication systems are Furuno and Sailor VHFs, StarLink and Telenor OneWeb satellite systems, and a Thrane Iridium phone. The satellite TV system is from Vico and SunnCom supplied the internal communications network and the CCTV system.
The 5400kW main engine is a Bergen B33:45L9P, turning a 4200mm Brunvoll Volda CP95/4 propeller via an ACG980/PS750 2-speed – 750/125/95rpm – reduction gearbox. Electrical power is derived from the 3200kW Marelli shaft generator and from the pair of Caterpillar gensets. These are a 940kWe C32 and a 565kWe C18. The configuration provides a take-me-home option, with the shaft generator able to function as an electric motor. This delivers a highly flexible set of energy options for a variety of operating patterns, from trawling at full power to searching for marks or steaming.
Thrusters are 1400kW and 950kW units from Brunvoll, which also supplied its Brunvoll Volda Brucon 5 management system.
Knester’s wheelhouse is outfitted with a Furuno BlueBridge, providing a synchronised and customisable display for all of the fish finding, navigation and other electronics across its five 55-inch displays.
